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South
Florida Sun - Sentinel; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Oct 7, 2002;
Karia D. Shores Staff Writer
She's 31,
making about $95,000 at her interior design firm on the ground
floor of her loft apartment. She can easily close shop early,
walk around back, and jet off in her Mini to meet friends
for a mango martini at a trendy Las Olas Boulevard restaurant.
But she won't
have to leave town if Wilton Manors' dream team has anything
to do with it. The prototype of
a new Wilton Manors resident will stay to play in what city
leaders are calling their "urban village."
With six
major residential and commercial construction projects being
planned, Wilton Manors expects to welcome 1,500 Generation
X- ers and young professionals within two years, along with
shops, clubs and eateries that will keep them in town on nights
and weekends.
"Wilton
Manors is going to become distinct," said Wilton Manors
Community Services Director Harold Home. "We're going
to be a daytime and nighttime destination point."
The city's
dream team consists of the city planning department, city
council members and a passel of developers willing to take
a chance on developing a new market for this traditionally
blue- collar town.
The city
wants to be an open center that offers residential choices
from $ 110,000 condominiums to $700,000 single family homes
and two new plazas with smart shops and loft condominiums.
It intends to be the antithesis of a gated community.
"I don't
want a wall where the $300,000-home people live and another
wall for the $100,000-homes people," Home said. "We
want everything to be oriented toward the street. It's how
you build communities."
Proximity
to Fort Lauderdale has given Wilton Manors a natural edge.
Until recently,
evolution has been gradual. Now, developers are being drawn
to the city by a year-old ordinance that allows them to build
multifamily homes in single-family areas. The law - which
requires them to fashion their projects after the city's traditional
Florida Cracker, Caribbean, Mediterranean or modem home styles
- has cleared the way to attract affluent younger residents.
The ordinance
put a sparkle in the eyes of developers looking at the Trailer
Haven site.
New Urban
Communities plans to construct three-story townhouses starting
at $315,000 with residential lofts and commercial space.
New Urban
Communities principal city planner Tim Hemandez said construction
will begin next spring at what for years has been a trailer
park at 2360 Wilton Drive.
"We're
thinking mom-and-pop stores, an accountant, lawyer, interior
designer, art gallery, little cafe," Hemandez said. "We're
going to be singles, couples, probably most without kids,
professionals between age 35 and 55 making between $70,000
and $200,000."
Development
attorney Ron Mastriana said his clients had planned to build
an industrial complex in the 1400 block of Northeast 26th
Street at the site of William Thies & Sons beer distributors.
But city officials persuaded Mastriana to instead build a
$50 million mixed-use retail complex with loft units similar
to the upcoming construction at Trailer Haven.
By the end of 2003, the city will have several
residential units in place and a few more under way. Rows
of Key West-style townhouses will soon spring up along Northeast
Ninth and Eighth avenues.
Another 12-unit project will emerge later this
year at 3020 NE Fifth Terr., where crumbling apartment complexes
will be replaced by trendy townhouses with wrap-around porches
and backdoor garages.
Construction is also under way for a subdivision
of 16 luxury homes in the 2200 block of Northeast Seventh
Avenue. But the project has been stalled by a lawsuit filed
by several residents, including former councilwoman Joanne
Fanizza, Home said.
Home said those homes would be priced at $700,000.
Using the year-old ordinance as a tool, Wilton
Manors is positioning itself to be what urban engineers call
a "first-tier suburb."
They think their city, already known as a gay
mecca, will continue to broaden its diversity, attracting
young affluent families and professionals of color along with
gay couples.
"We are probably one of the more diverse
cities racially than any other in the county. We have that
urban feel," City Councilman Gary Resnick said. "We're
no longer a bedroom community."
Karia
Shores can be reached at kshores@sun-sentinel.com
or 954- 356-4552.
Reproduced
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction
or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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